The veep debates were kind of boring, so I watched Simpsons reruns, and read the full transcript later on. You know, hate Cheney for Halliburton or not, his reticent, “evil overlord” reputation belies the eloquence of a forceful and articulate speaker, especially on issues of defense, intelligence, and military technology. War is Cheney’s home turf, which should come as no surprise given his background as Secretary of Defense. That’s why he’s President.

Nonetheless, John Edwards did an excellent job of answering the most baldfaced inaccuracies on Iraq and the war, and the attacks on his and Kerry’s Senate records. As expected, he showed levity, charm, and grace, in contrast to the VP’s standard “Vader” disposition. The idea that Edwards’ happy-cutesy demeanor is a liability to his credibility is plain vilification; you don’t even need last night’s debate to know that Edwards is serious and set on business. Smiles and charisma don’t detract from that.

(Oh, and Mr. Vice President, it’s Factcheck dot org — which just drives home how important it is to get a unique .com domain these days if you want good name recognition.)

More input from Instant Replay, Staunch Moderate, Josh Marshall, Jonah Goldberg, Time, and Achewood.